Demigod, the latest from Gas Powered Games, has had quite a rocky start since it launched in April. Its servers were first overrun with pirates and the network problems continued to persist into May. Stardock, the game's publisher, promised to dole out coupons to players as an apology for the poor network performance, and Big Download reports that customers are starting to receive them.

The coupons will allow anyone to purchase the game for 50 percent off the standard $39.99 price. We're not quite sure how offering a discount to new customers amounts to an apology to current customers, but it's definitely better than nothing. We're sure it might also serve to help new customers take the plunge despite the reported issues.

So, how about it, Demigod players, have you received your coupon yet? Did you manage to convince a friend to pick up the game? For that matter, have you stuck with the game despite its problems?

[Via BD]

If you were one of the many recruits in last year's war on restrictive, invasive DRM, you may want to check out a recent article on Gamasutra that features opinions on PC gaming piracy protection (that's a mouthful) from a number of gaming industry movers and shakers.

The general sentiment of these interviewees is that DRM is extremely ineffective when it comes to preventing piracy, and that developers should either come up with alternate ways of ensuring the retail product is more valuable than the pirated product, or determine a different way to make money altogether (such as micro-transactions). For interesting insight from fine folks like 2D Boy's Ron Carmel and Stardock's Brad Wardell, we highly suggest checking out the full article.

We're not exactly sure why Stardock CEO Brad Wardell is in the business of giving advice to retailers, considering his Impulse service is in direct competition with them. But that's exactly what he did when talking to GameBizBlog recently, saying that retailers a playing a dangerous game testing the digital distribution waters.

"Retailers need to be careful about this stuff," he said. "They're kind of signing their own death warrants once they push digital distribution at the store. Once you have the thing set up--once you've experienced how to purchase the game or deal with it online--why would I go back to the store for the next purchase? Especially if the store isn't providing added value. If you're a retailer, you're killing yourself."

... You know, on second reading, that kind of sounds like a threat. Hold on, let us check again. ... Yep, that's a threat.

[Via GoNintendo]

Demigod appears to have been a pirates' cove at launch, as Stardock CEO Brad Wardell explained on his blog a couple days ago: Out of the 120,000 connections on launch day, only 18,000 were legitimate customers (that's not sales, merely "concurrent users"). Obviously, this situation put quite a strain on the servers. He explained that Stardock stress tested for 50,000 players at peak times and wasn't expecting to hit those numbers for weeks.

A letter from Stardock this morning notes that "most" launch day issues were resolved yesterday afternoon. A "doppleganger" of the network was created, along with an update for legitimate players, which now directs them to the clean servers. It's a pretty nasty situation for Stardock, which has actually put faith in gamers by not placing copy protection on its games.

[Via Edge]

Stardock employees had their Easter weekend ruined by GameStop when the retailer decided to break street date on the Gas Powered Games-developed action RTS, Demigod. "We were looking forward to the weekend to recover," Stardock CEO Brad Wardell wrote on the publisher's official forum. "Instead, we found ourselves back at work having to turn on and configure the multiplayer matchmaking servers."

Beyond losing vacation time, Wardell theorizes the early availability of Demigod will cause piracy of the copy protection-free title to be "maximized." But the outspoken (anti-intrusive DRM) exec says Demigod's early release may serve as proof of the actual effects of piracy. In response to GameStop's decision, Stardock released the game via its own digital distribution service, Impulse, a day early (on Monday).

While Wardell wouldn't discuss speculation that GameStop intentionally released Demigod early to combat Stardock's digital distribution service, the CEO says Stardock is in talks with GameStop to find out "how this happened."

[Via Gamasutra]

Stardock's Game Object Obfuscation (Goo) sounds super complex (and it is), but all we -- "the consumer" -- need to grasp is that it could very well open up a "used" PC games market. Although this sounds like something that would make publishers and developers irate, the clever part with Goo is those groups actually make coin off the transactions. Stardock is still being cagey about which publishers it has jumping on-board with this client-free DRM solution, but should be making announcements soon. We finally grasped the big picture of Goo while speaking with Stardock CEO Brad Wardell and using the glasses on the table in front of us to diagram how the system will work:

The super distilled basics (use picture above to follow along):

• Seller: So, you bought a PC game and now want to sell it. You go to the Impulse Marketplace and -- if you accept the "used" price -- your license will transfer back to the publisher and the game can't be played anymore. The game is "sold."
• Buyer: You want a game, but don't want to pay full price. You go to Impulse Marketplace and will be able to purchase this "used" license from the publisher through the service and download the game from the digital distribution service at a reduced price. That's it. Now you own the license and can sell it back whenever.
  
• Publisher: Here's why publishers will probably like this system: The companies receive almost all the money -- minus Stardock's transaction fee -- from the resold license. Essentially, the publishers get to sell the same license several times and have entered the profitable "used" games market.

Goo will go live on April 7th. Considering this is all done through digital distribution, it's best to think of this whole concept as a "used license market" instead of a "used games market" -- there is no physical product changing hands. If Goo takes off, it means that consumers can get money for selling their PC games back to the publisher, and those who only buy "used" games have a secure new option. But, no matter what transaction occurs, the publishers are finally empowered and have cash flow in the used market.

During a conversation with Stardock CEO Brad Wardell and Art Director Paul Boyer, the two -- against the express wishes of their PR handler -- brought up iPhone development at the company and the possibility of Galactic Civilizations II on the mobile platform.

While Stardock's PR pro sat in a chair facepalming (image after the break), Wardell and Boyer discussed development for the mobile device, with Boyer saying he'd "really like" to do GalCiv II. Just to be clear, after we left, the PR lady had a stern talking with them ... beyond the iPhone stuff, it probably had something to do with the duo openly discussing the unannounced Galactic Civilizations III.

DRM is a sticky subject in the PC gaming scene. While most publishers see it as a necessary evil, many consumers complain about the unfair restrictions imposed by some DRM solutions. Stardock's new Goo program may clean things up.

Game Object Obfuscation, or Goo for short, is a client-free DRM solution. Instead of a third-party verification program, the DRM is embedded into the program itself. Activation is done through a user's e-mail address: simply tie a serial number to your e-mail address and you'll be able to use your product on any machine you own. Once validated, an online connection is no longer required.

Interestingly, this new DRM method will allow consumers to legitimately resell their PC games. By voluntarily disabling their game access, they can transfer their license ownership to someone else. Were Goo to take off, it could create a second-hand PC gaming market.

Goo will be introduced on April 7th. Stardock plans to announce Goo support from "multiple major publishers" in April as well.

[Via Big Download]

The latest video of Demigod is actually a four-minute walkthrough of the game with Executive Producer (and Stardock CEO) Brad Wardell. It's been hard to describe Gas Powered Games' Demigod because it's not a conventional RTS. Players mainly focus on leveling up and keeping alive their main deity character, so there are a lot of RPG elements in the game as well.

The video does a solid job of describing what a typical multiplayer match is like. We've had some time with the beta, and the focus of the game is to keep the action going and avoid the micromanagement in normal RTS titles -- a match can be finished in about a half-hour. Although it's not shown in this video, the camera is completely free to set at whatever angle you'd like to experience the action, which is actually pretty cool once The Rook starts whaling on troops. This PC only title -- which once you play, you won't understand why that is -- will be available this April.

Gravelly-voiced space crook news now, with a demo version of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena arriving on the Xbox Live Marketplace. In addition to piloting Vin Diesel through the presumably dark corridors of the titular Athena, you'll be able to pilot a "drone" through one of the demo's segments. We're not really sure how different those two really are, but the latter makes for an interesting bullet point in the press release.

Those uninterested in bullets can also take a stab at wielding Riddick's "razor-sharp ulaks," though we'll remind you that bringing an ulak to a disintegrator fight is always a bad idea. Look for the demo on PSN later this March, and the full game on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on April 7th (April 24th if you live in Europe).

Stardock let us know that Demigod is ready to take control of PCs April 14. The new-fangled RTS, developed by Gas Powered Games, is priced at $39.95 for the standard version and $49.99 for the collector's edition. The additional ten-spot will net deity wannabes a soundtrack CD, poster and a pewter figurine of The Rook.

Demigod is also available to purchase on Stardock's Impulse digital distribution system. The game will utilize Impulse for its multiplayer functionality, too, but full details have yet to be revealed.

We already told you about developer Stardock's upcoming expansion "Entrenchment" when it was announced last August. We told you about the delay that hit the expansion and pushed back its release window and then when it finally got dated (we were so proud!), only to get pushed back to February 25th (what a downer!).

Well today, we've got no bad news for you. The brand new trailer you see above and the less than brand new screenshots you see below in the gallery are all we've got for you on the Impulse digital download service-exclusive expansion coming in a few weeks. We apologize for the squished format of the video but we get what we get and we don't get upset.

Jonathan Blow has cast his reign on your Braid: The PC version of his acclaimed puzzle slash poem game will now cost $14.95, a full five cents cheaper than the Xbox Live Arcade edition. Initially priced at $20 by Stardock's Impulse distribution platform, Braid PC is due for release on March 31st. All pre-orders will reflect the new price.

Writing on his blog, Blow winds some of the controversy down, candidly explaining that the $20 tag seemed reasonable compared to similarly priced PC games, such as World of Goo and Crayon Physics Deluxe. Since the XBLA release was "nicely profitable," however, the designer has decided to shrug off the higher price -- which has proven to be "unpopular in certain areas of the Internets."

We feel kind of bad about sending those death threats now.

Earlier this afternoon, PC game publisher Stardock revealed plans for the March 31st release of the acclaimed puzzle-platformer, Braid, on its Impulse digital distribution platform. Pre-orders start today and come with a 33% price increase, bringing the game to a (not so) nice and round $20. Last summer, the 1200 XBLA release of Braid drew criticism from thrifty gamers the world over for its notably high price point at the time (how far we've come!).

At the height of the criticism, developer Jonathan Blow explained the reasoning behind the controversial price as a means to assure that he broke even, writing on his blog, "I had to guard against the Space Giraffe problem," referring to Jeff Minter's critically acclaimed XBLA title that released for 400 and sold "only 19k copies." He further expounded on his point to 1UP last year, stating, "If those are the only people who like the game [a niche group], then I'd basically be bankrupt."

However, considering the enormous success of Braid (both critically and commercially) on XBLA over the last eight months, we're left wondering why the price tag has been upped and if the game's outspoken creator has something to say about it. We've asked Mr. Blow for comment.

Update: The price has now been lowered to $14.95.

We're "Vasari" to report that Sins of a Solar Empire's first "micro-expansion," Entrenchment, has fallen out of warp and suffered a delay until Feb. 25. Only available through Stardock's Impulse digital distribution service, the $10 add-on was recently given a Feb. 11 release date.

Stardock's Brad Wardell stated the extra time will be used to incorporate more feedback from the open beta. The expansion was originally expected to release sometime late last year. Hopefully production of the next micro-expansion, featuring diplomacy upgrades, will go a lot smoother than Entrenchment's development.